This invention relates in general to air conditioning for vehicles, and in particular to the housing of the filter of such an air conditioning unit.
Vehicles, such as agricultural tractors and combine harvesters, work in dusty environments. A requirement exists for air entering the operator's cab of such vehicles to be filtered in order to remove dust particles. Furthermore, such vehicles are often fitted with air conditioning to maintain the temperature of the operator's cab at an acceptable level. There is a requirement to filter out dust particles from the air entering an air conditioning system in order to prevent the condenser from becoming blocked. It is necessary to clean or change air filter elements relatively frequently.
In a current system, the air filtering elements of the air conditioning unit are located in the roof of the cab. They are accessed by removing a hatch on the top of the roof. In order to complete this task it is necessary for the person removing the filter elements to stand on the set in the tractor cab with his upper body passing through the hatch.
In another system currently on the market, the filtering element is held in the side of the roof canopy. One problem associated with this arrangement is that the filter element is long, flexible, and difficult to manipulate. During the procedure of removing the filter from its housing, dust may fall out of the filter element.
The object of the invention is, therefore, to provide an improved arrangement for housing the filter element of an air conditioning system for a vehicle having a cab.